Grand Bay Multi-Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Grand Bay Wildlife Management Area is
part of the 18,000-acre Grand Bay/Banks Lake ecosystem. It contains
four so-called Carolina Bays, an unusual feature of the Coastal
Plain of Georgia. Oval in shape, these peat-tilled, relatively
shallow depressions always lie in a northeast to southeast
direction. The size of the Grand Bay ecosystem is second in Georgia
only to the Okefenokee Swamp, the largest wetland in the state and
one of the largest in the Southeast.
Grand Bay is a designated site on the Southern Rivers Birding
Trail, which spans the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions of
Georgia and terminates in the state's wetlands. Within Grand Bay,
visitors may observe song birds, egrets, hawks, herons, owls, white
ibis, woodpeckers, and wood storks. A small population of Florida
sandhill cranes has been introduced to the area, and individuals
can be seen or heard throughout the year. Migratory greater
sandhill cranes usually arrive on the marsh in mid-November and
remain until mid-January. Several hundred cranes typically feed on
the floating mat community in Grand Bay during winter. Alligators,
deer, otters, and various species of frogs, turtles, snakes, and
rare Florida water rats that build their nests on floating islands
of vegetation are also common to the wetland.
Within Grand Bay MWA is the Robert Patten Grand Bay Wetland
Education Center. School children learn about the complex
ecological relationships between plants and animals and the
contributions of a functioning wetlands ecosystem to a healthy
natural environment.
NOTE: When school groups
are visiting the education center, the boardwalk and observation
tower will be closed until the conclusion of the visit.
The entire boardwalk is accessible to wheelchairs, but the
observation tower is not.
The main entrance is on Knights Academy Rd. and parking is
located at the Education Center, a half-mile boardwalk takes you
through a cross section of communities on Grand Bay. At the end of
the boardwalk is a 54-foot-high observation tower. This structure,
once a fire tower that overlooked Kinderlou Forest has been
modified to allow observation of the open prairie and a heron
rookery in the bay's center. At this tower you will find a placard
that will help you get to the cache.
Final coordinates:
30° 55.3Z4 N
083°10.062 W
Figure out the total number of years the observation tower served
as a fire tower.
Z = the 2nd number in the total number of years.
You seek an ammo can full of swag.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Whapgher bs pbawbvarq gevcyrgf